Better When Broken
by AlexOfEden
Summary: The Doctors mind is an amazing thing, and once it's broken, it might just be too great a challenge for even Jack Harkness to fix it, especially if The Doctor is not too keen on letting him.  Post-Waters Of Mars - Done before? Yes. Done like this? Never.
1. Prologue

Better When Broken

Summary: The Doctors mind is an amazing thing, and once it's broken, it might just be too great a challenge for even Jack Harkness to fix it, especially if The Doctor is not too keen on letting him. [Post-Waters Of Mars - Done before? Yes. Done like this? Never.]

Prologue

There are some things that, when broken, don't need to be fixed. Some things are better off that way, shattered into a million pieces. Who would eat an egg without first breaking the shell? What fun were fireworks that didn't explode? Yes, there were many things that were better when broken.

A Time Lords mind, however, is not one of them. That much was made obvious when one merely thought back to the Master, to all he had done and tried to do once the drums had driven him into madness. And yet, as the Doctor watched in irritation as Adelaide Brooks turned from him with something akin to horror in her eyes, he didn't look back, didn't think for one moment that maybe the reason she wasn't smiling, the reason she wasn't thanking him for saving her life was because, in that moment, he had looked just like the master. That, if he had looked in the mirror right then, he would have seen the same crazed smile the master always wore on his own lips. And still, even if he had, would he have cared?

The answer to that was debatable, but really didn't matter, in the end. The 'what ifs' of the situation were useless; all that mattered was that he didn't look back, didn't wait to hear the gunshot before closing the TARDIS door behind himself, didn't realize what he had become. And, as he set the TARDIS whirling into the time vortex and the madness took an even deeper hold on him, he didn't, for the first time since he could remember, care that the future was bending around him in ways that it was never meant to.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Jack woke that morning with the feeling that something was off. It wasn't strong, but subtle enough to just be annoying. It was like someone had moved something, set a book on the wrong shelf, switched things in nearly imperceptible ways all around him. And yet, when he looked, everything was in order, just where he left it. He groaned and rubbed his face. He was finally going mad, it seemed.

Taking a quick shower, he once again felt that odd feeling, like something was just a bit off about the situation. No, not the situation, the whole world. And yet, as he continued to go about his morning, he couldn't find one single thing wrong. Not until he turned on the news, and saw a newscaster with a cybernetic arm standing in front of a crowd of people who were going about their day as if the few aliens who were walking among them were perfectly normal.

When his crew finally arrived, he was looking through a stack of books, eyes wide and brow creased. This wasn't right. The 'hello's and 'good morning's of his team went unnoticed as he flipped pages yet again. "Gwen." He said sharply, not looking up.

"Yes?" She replied, instantly sounding curious and worried. Something was definitely up with Jack.

"What happened to Pompay in AD 97?" Gwen frowned at the strange question. Even weirder was the fact that he was staring at the answer in his book, but still asking, as though trying to confirm that the book was right.

"Mount Vesuvius erupted." She replied slowly, confused as to why he was asking and why in the world that mattered now.

"And how many people died?"

Gwens frown deepened. "23." She replied instantly, as though the answer was obvious. "The head seer and the members of the Sybilline Sisterhood."

Jack only seemed to grow more irritated at the answer. He snapped his book shut and all but threw it across the room. "No." He growled, as though his denial was enough to make the answer false. "No!"

"What's going on, Jack!" Owen asked loudly, watching in confusion as the normally composed man stood and began stalking about the room.

"That's wrong! Everything is wrong!" The answer was nearly yelled and hardly an answer at all.

"What do you mean!" Tosh cried, feeling nearly as frantic as Jack was acting. She reached a hand up and rubbed her left eyelid, under which a fake eye with a mechanical lens rested. Jack stopped in shock as he noticed, rushing up to her and pulling her hand away roughly.

"What happened to your eye?" He asked, staring into Tosh's shocked face.

"Wh-what do you mean? It's always been like this!"

"No. No, that can't-" Jack cut himself off, shaking his head. He looked nearly demented, hair a mess from all the times he had run his hands through it in frustration, face pale and eyes wild. The other members of torchwood looked between themselves nervously.

Finally, Ianto stepped forward. "Jack, why don't you sit down? I'll make some tea." Jack looked over to his lover, eyes suddenly narrowing and looking the man over with a critical gaze. When nothing seemed out pf place, he let out a long sigh and rubbed one hand over his face.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Tea. Good." He mumbled, letting Ianto take him by the shoulder and gently guide him from the room. He was soon seated in the kitchen with a steaming cup of caffeine-free tea in his hands. Ianto hadn't felt it to be a good idea to give the frazzled man caffeine.

"Now, tell me what's going on." The man ordered gently, taking a seat across from the immortal.

"This is all wrong." Jack's voice was low, desperate to get the other to understand even when he didn't himself. "This whole world, it's not right. Pompeii, the Scarlix Invasion, Tosh's eye. None of it is right."

"Jack, Tosh lost her eye when she was five." Ianto spoke slowly, gently, as though trying to explain to an amnesiac that their parents had died long ago. "The Scarlix Invasion was settled, and Pompeii was thousands of years ago."

Jack sighed, rubbing his eyes and taking a sip of his tea. "The invasion - who settled it?" He asked suddenly, looking up. The Doctor! Maybe he could explain this. But first, he had to make sure that his beloved Time Lord was still part of this world.

Ianto frowned, folding his fingers in front of his face. "The Time Lord Victorious." His voice was grave, the name obviously not belonging to someone he was fond of in the least. Jack looked at him, startled.

"Who?"

"The Time Lord Victorious." Ianto repeated, a scowl deepening the lines of his face. He seemed just a bit older than Jack remembered, just a bit more battle worn than he should have been. "The rebels call him 'The Mad Doctor'."

In that moment, Jack heart sank. His one hope to fix things was the very man who had caused it. The only man who could save him was now his enemy. And, as much as he hated it, Jack knew he had to fix this, even if it meant destroying the one man he owed his life to a hundred times over.


End file.
